What an app actually costs to build.
A web app MVP starts at A$19,500, a mobile one at A$29,000, an AI agent at A$7,500 and a chatbot at A$3,500 — ex GST, from Sydney, with the running costs passed through at cost. Below: what makes an app expensive, what the market charges with the sources next to it, and a calculator using the same hours and rate we quote with.
Your estimate
hourly rate US$95| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| Web app MVPone product, one audience, shipped | US$12,900 |
The bottom of the range is that arithmetic. The top adds 30% for scope that is still moving, which is the allowance we quote with rather than a statistic. It is an estimate, not a quote: a quote follows a conversation, and that conversation usually removes things.
Ask for a real quote
Your estimate is attached to the message, so the reply starts from what you chose rather than asking you again. A person reads it — the one who would do the work — and answers within one business day.
Why a price list at all. Most agencies will not publish one, and the reason given is that every project is different. That is true of the total and not of the rate: the hours differ, the price of an hour does not. So here is the rate, here are the hours we estimate for each thing people actually ask for, and here is the arithmetic that turns them into a number — the same arithmetic we use when we quote. You can check it, and you can argue with any line of it.
What actually drives the cost.
Past the base price there is one unit of cost: an hour. Everything below is our estimate of how many hours a thing takes, drawn to scale against each other, so you can see which decisions are expensive before you make them.
What everyone else charges, and where we sit.
| What | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average app development project on Clutch | US$90,780 | Clutch’s own pricing guide, from verified client reviews, updated 21 September 2026 |
| Most common project size on Clutch | US$10,000–49,999 | Same guide |
| Average project duration | about 11 months | Same guide |
| Average monthly spend while building | US$8,188 | Same guide |
| Agency rate, Australia | US$100–149/hour | Same guide, by country |
| Mobile app development, any app | US$40,000–250,000+ | Shopify’s own 2026 cost guide |
Read against those figures
An MVP is deliberately not in that first row. A$29,000 buys one platform, one audience and the smallest thing that can be used in anger — which is the point: Clutch’s average project runs eleven months at US$8,188 a month, and most of what that money buys is scope nobody validated first.
Every figure in that table was read on 15 October 2026 from the page linked beside it. Two of them are averages of other people’s projects and one is a platform’s own guide: none of them is a quote, and none of them knows your project. They are here so the number above is not the only number you have seen.
Straight answers.
What does “MVP” actually mean in your prices?
The smallest version that a real user can do the real job with. One platform, one audience, the one workflow that matters, and the admin you need to run it. Not a demo and not a prototype: something you can put in front of customers and charge for. Everything else is a second release, priced when you know what the first one taught you.
Why is a second mobile platform so expensive?
Because it is a second app. 60 hours is the honest figure for building, testing and submitting it, and store review is its own process with its own rejections. If the budget is tight, ship one platform to the audience you actually have, and let its usage decide whether the second is worth it.
Are AI running costs included?
The build is a fixed price; the model usage is passed through at cost, with a ceiling you set and an alert before it is reached. We run that pattern on our own free tools: every call is priced from the token usage the API reports, and the tool refuses rather than overspending. You get the same arrangement, not a markup on somebody else's API.
What about maintenance after launch?
Hourly at A$140 / US$95 for small changes, or a monthly retainer if you would rather a fixed call on our time. No lock-in either way, and the code and accounts are yours from day one — including if you leave.
Can you do it cheaper than the calculator says?
Usually, by building less. Every line the calculator adds is something you can defer to the next release, and the first conversation is normally about which of them you actually need in version one. What we will not do is quote the same scope for less and find the difference later.
How accurate is a number from a calculator?
It is the base price from our list plus hours at our rate, which is exactly how we build a quote — so the arithmetic is real. What it cannot know is your particular complication. The top of the range adds 30% for scope that is still moving, which is the allowance we quote with, not a statistic.
The work these prices buy
- App and software development — web and mobile MVPs, proved by two products of ours in production
- Web development — if what you need is a site rather than an app
- Bilby — the software this page is selling, running every night from six regions
- Navaal: AI SEO, AEO & GEO — our published Shopify app, through App Store review